Bertolt Brecht "The Parting" translation

Der Abschied (“The Parting”)
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We embrace;
my fingers trace
rich cloth
while yours encounter only moth-
eaten fabric.
A quick hug:
you were invited to the gay soiree
while the minions of the "law" relentlessly pursue me.
We talk about the weather
and our eternal friendship's magic.
Anything else would be too bitter,
too tragic.

Bertolt Brecht [1898-1956] was a major German playwright, poet, novelist, humorist, essayist, theater director and songwriter. He was also a highly influential pioneer of modern epic theater, or dialectical theater, with its "alienation effect" (also known as the "distancing effect" or "estrangement effect"). Brecht is highly regarded today for his poetry and for plays such as Antigone, Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and Her Children, The Threepenny Opera and Drums in the Night. He also wrote the lyrics to the song "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" ("Mack the Knife"), which became a number one hit for Bobby Darin. Brecht fled Germany in 1933, when Hitler assumed power. A number of Brecht's poems were written from the perspective of a man who sees his country becoming increasingly fascist, xenophobic and militaristic. For instance, “Die Bücherverbrennung” (“The Burning of the Books”) was written by Brecht about the Nazi book burnings orchestrated by Hitler's propaganda-meister Joseph Goebbels. The Nazis burned the books of writers they considered to be "decadent," including those of Thomas Mann, Ernest Hemingway and even Helen Keller. Also among the books burned were those of the great German-Jewish poet Heinrich Heine, who in his 1820-1821 play Almansor accurately predicted, “Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen." ("Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people.") Keywords/Tags: Holocaust, poem, German, translation, Bertolt, Brecht, friendship, parting, separation, exile, law, fugitive

Bertolt Brecht Epigrams and Quotations

These are my modern English translations of epigrams and quotations by Bertolt Brecht.

Everyone chases the way happiness feels,

unaware how it nips at their heels.

�" loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The world of learning takes a crazy turn

when teachers are taught to discern!

�" loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Unhappy, the land that lacks heroes.

�" loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Hungry man, reach for the book:

it's a hook,